Eleven

In the midst of all the illness, we celebrated Gabriel’s eleventh birthday! I was so worried that we would all be sick on his birthday, but it thankfully fell right in between the little one’s episodes, and he hasn’t gotten sick himself yet. There has been a lot of growing up in the past year, evidenced in many ways big and small. And probably, I am not allowed to talk much about any of it. Note though: no birthday crown, and no photos of him blowing out birthday candles.

For the past couple of years my boys have had very specific one item birthday gift requests, which is nice and easy in a way, but when Gabe told me that he didn’t know what he wanted for his birthday this year, I was excited for the challenge of coming up with gifts myself. I knew right away that I wanted to buy him an mp3 player for listening to audiobooks (And he loved it! the only problem is that I am technically challenged and managed to buy the one player that isn’t compatible with Audible, and I have bought all of his favorite Little Britches books there. I’m still working on that.) Shopping for a boy this age is tricky. Gabe’s still a kid, but he’s not a little kid. In the end, based on Gabe’s reactions, I think Jonny and I did really well choosing his gifts. I think we always have a hard time not going overboard with him. Will we always feel like we’re making up for the years we missed? A few of Gabe’s favorite gifts (in case you have big boys to shop for too!) were this Erector set, this really neat game, and this simple hovercraft kit was a huge hit.

Last minute Jonny decided that Gabe needed a new baseball glove too. He spent every spare minute looking at gloves online, and took a rare late evening shopping trip to local sporting goods stores, and finally settled on the glove that he claims Gabe will still be using when he plays college ball (yeah–he’s making some assumptions there….) I had hoped to make a video of Gabe pitching to share here, but we had to miss the baseball game last week. Gabe is known throughout our local baseball league for his pitching skills. Strangers approach him after games to congratulate him, coaches of travel teams try to recruit him. He has a gift. But people notice something else about him, I’ve heard the words, “heart of gold” from the mouth of another dad. He doesn’t have the swagger or the attitude that you see sometimes. He doesn’t get nervous either. He simply walks up to the mound with a smile and proceeds to throw his fast balls without a care in the world. A friend whose son plays in the league told me this story: Two brothers who played on Gabe’s team last season, (but are on a different team now) didn’t want to even go to their game the night their team would be playing Gabe and Keats’ team because they were terrified of going up to bat against Gabe pitching. Their mom convinced them to go. During the game, she watched as Gabe pitched strike after strike, as fast as they could be. Her boys’ turn to bat came, and with fear, they walked up to the plate. Gabe saw his old teammates, and he must have known that they would be scared because his mom said that while she could hardly believe it, she watched as he slowed down for her boys, pitching without the lightning speed. I don’t know if anyone else would have noticed, not knowing that Gabe knew those boys, and maybe just thinking he was getting tired. But that mom knew. Gabe is still just a kid, but he has character beyond his years. He also doesn’t like me to make a fuss, so I better stop writing now.

No birthday crown? How funny! Because when I looked at the first few photos in the post, I thought, “The way that saw in the background hangs above Gabe’s head, it looks like a giant golden crown.” Well, anyway. Happy birthday, Gabe!

Gabe slowing down his fastball for his nervous friends got me all choked up…I’ve been w/ your blog since he joined your family and stories of him always make me smile. If I wasn’t chasing our little girl around the whole baseball game I might be one of those loud cheering mama’s for our three boys! 🙂

Happy Birthday Gabe, 11 is such lovely age, my Master S is 11 – and I love watching him grown and develop and blossom – especially this past year – he has come leaps and bounds. I hope everyone is on the mend. xx Rach

I am new to your blog. But, I enjoy your style! I am very interested in Gabe and some of the comments that you have made about this exceptional person. Would you share with me how he came to be a part of your family? I love the story of his friendship with the boys on the other team. Isn’t that what we want for our kids? You have instilled in him some wonderful traits!
Thanks, and Happy Mother’s Day!
Jenny B.

Oh I have a Gabriel too. Must be something about that name – he has a heart of gold as well. He is 16 and I really really can’t write about him on my blog anymore. No more photos either. I have to sneak those in….

Happy Birthday Gabe! Looks like everyone had a great time. I wonder how long it will be before my oldest wants big kid stuff instead of legos.

I have a prayer request , if you could please pray for my sister -in-law I would greatly appreciate it. The doctors have found cancer on both of her lungs and this is the third time she has had cancer so her chances are pretty bad. The doctors are giving her 3 to 5 years left. Christa is pretty young (36), she’s a wife and mother to 3 kids 8,6, and 4. There is a Novena being prayed (started yesturday) to Blessed Stanislause Papcyzski but really any prayers would be appreciated.

Primary Sidebar

Enter your best email address to start discovering the beauty of small things, PLUS find out when our shop is restocked with naturally dyed yarn, soap, and more...

Hello! My name is Ginny. I believe that when you slow down and savor the small things, you don’t have to wish for a different life; you can discover beauty in the life you already have. {Find out more here…}

Small Things Sponsors

Join us the first Wednesday of every month!

Always Reading

Footer

I write about

I write about

Archives

Archives

Looking for something?

Search this website

Translate

Disclosure

I often link to resources that I and my family personally use and recommend. I participate in the Amazon associates program and if you enter Amazon.com through my blog and then make a purchase, I receive a small percentage of the sale. I never recommend a product or resource for the sole purpose of being compensated financially. If I write that we use or love something, you can trust that we do.